h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I've been watching the Daily Show's coverage of the whole US healthcare thing (I know, I know, how balanced!) and to be honest, I can see where the Average Joe is coming from, I mean if anyone tried to change healthcare here - even if you believed him to be completly fair and all that, you would still worry about potential knock-on effects for you and your family. Bearing in mind that and the fact that there are quite a few Americans who believed that Obama was a socialist (which to most Americans appears to mean commie and therefore evil on a par with Hitler) before this (yes, they were taken in by propaganda - but if propaganda didn't work on large numbers of people it wouldn't be used) and now they're told he's trying to organise a government take-over of healthcare I see their concern. I think the media and various vested interests (Republicans, insurers, drug companies, etc) have a hell of a lot to answer for but I hope he at least makes enough headway to be able to build on it in his (fingers crossed) second term.



Re: NZ smacking law - for a start the notion that we would tell a country how they should or should not vote appals me (as an Irish citizen I know a thing or two about people outside the process trying to influence it) but anyway, smacking is not child abuse and anyone with an ounce of common sense knows there's a difference between smacking a child and beating a child. I, and my sister and brothers were all smacked as children - it was one of the ways my parents disciplined us. None of us have carried any trauma from it, none of us are violent or abusive towards others - in fact I see a big difference between how respectful we were to various elders and relations and how many of my young cousins behave.
That said one set of cousins is at least as respectful as we ever were and I know their parents took the non-smacking route.
To summarize I am aware smacking is not *necessary* to rear a well-behaved child but I believe it should be up to the parents to decide how they discipline their children. Hysterically screaming "child abuse" at normal, loving parents doesn't help anyone - especially not children who actually are beaten and abused.

So who is to draw the line between what is 'just hard enough' and 'too hard' a slap? That is a very difficult thing to judge, better not to have to judge at all, in my opinion.

As for 'we shouldn't have and express views and try to influence practises in other countries', what the ? So I guess we should all just shut up when women are stoned to death for sharing a taxi with a man who isn't their husband, we should all stay quiet about female circumcision, eh?

You could say this about anything in society from where 'nanny state' comes from.

There's is no personal responsibility in the world these days, if there was people might start thinking more and *know* where to draw the line.

It is perfectly possible to raise well behaved children without having to resort to physical violence no matter how 'light' - there are other forms of non-corporal punishment you know.

I never said there wasn't - my little neice knows about the naughty corner...but she is quite well behaved child and has yet to do anything repeatably life-trheatening. However, a smack can be something to reinforce a child not to do something that is potentially life theatening i.e. running into a road or something like that. If they consistently ignore verbal warnings then a quick smack may be the thing to reinforce the fact that running into a road is dangerous...personally, the outcome of not ensuring a child will not run into a road is far worse than giving them a smack to try to stop them.

I know of a case where a mother slapped her daughter, hard, on the backside and it was indeed a case of the child (about 6 or 7 I think) having a mania for dashing into the road (she pulled her back with one hand and landed the slap with the other). The mother added a 'threat' as well. If she had to slap her daughter everyday of the week to remind her not to run into the road she would do it (the fierce look was extremely convincing). Although I don't believe in hitting children, I must admit it worked (whether the shock of actually being hit or the threat, I don't know). The ban would even remove the use of the threat.

My own child was very well up on childrens' rights (imported from junior school) and it was up to us - his parents - to remind him that children had 'duties' too. From a practical point of view, I believe it is essential to link the notion of childrens' rights to their duties. Schools often (rightly IMO) inform children of their rights but (again IMO and experience) forget about the moral duties.

Not quite news, but I really do worry about humanity sometimes

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/12/the-9-stupidest-products_n_257506.html?slidenumber=1#slide_image

A bed-mounted shotgun rack. The ad all but encourages murdering someone.

At the end of the ad, it says "Not intended for use in homes with children or mentally impaired individuals".... think about it.

As if wanting the thing isn't proof enough that you're mentally impaired...

I'd better cancel my order then I only wanted two

Wedding blown out of proportion....

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/prince-edward-island/story/2009/08/12/pei-inflatable-groom-reunion.html

Did she get to keep the gifts?

Including the bed mounted shotgun rack?

>As for 'we shouldn't have and express views and try to influence practises in other countries', what the ? So I guess we should all just shut up when women are stoned to death for sharing a taxi with a man who isn't their husband, we should all stay quiet about female circumcision, eh?<

I didn't said we couldn't have and express a view - and trying to persuade people to see our POV is fine but telling anyone (never mind an entire country) how they should vote (with the implication that they're an idiot/monster if they don't vote that way) appals me! Like I say, as an Irish person (therefore among the relatively few EU citizens still guaranteed a vote on most of the major treaties) I know a thing or two about those outside the process trying to dictate how it should go.


Social Services in the first instance.


OK, my opinion is that it's better to give parents as much freedom as possible to raise their kids as they see fit, within the confines of our social mores (eg the kids need to get a proper education). To me the ban is excessive but I don't mind others having a different opinion, what I *do* mind is the attitude of some pro-ban people (ie anti-ban = pro-child abuse)

Seen on BBC Devon local news:

Police detainees are being asked to complete "customer satisfaction" surveys about their time in cells.

Leaves me aghast . Though I'd welcome the viewpoint of others, particularly overseas contributors - is this purely a British obsession?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8202842.stm

The hotel is honouring the confirmed bookings, those lucky people!

I'm sure their "Customer satisfaction surveys" will be highly rated

I'm very proud of my community:

'

A group of kids from Chengdu, China, who were orphaned last year by a devastating earthquake are in Edmonton for a special visit.

The local Chinese community raised money to bring 18 kids to Edmonton for a week of fun, including a trip to the zoo and a baseball game. . . .


The kids from Chengdu have been partnered with kids from Edmonton who are in the public school board's Mandarin bilingual program.

The hope is that the kids and the two cities will create a lifelong partnership.

Edmonton's Chinese community hopes to bring another 18 orphans to the city next year.'

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2009/08/15/edmonton-china-earthquake-orphans.html




___________________________

a footnote for British readers: over here 'public school' means 'state school'. The Mandarin programme referred to in the news story is a programme within the city's publicly funded school system and is open to any student, regardless of ethnic background, who wishes to be a part of the programme, just like the programmes in Arabic, Hebrew, Ukrainian, Cree, etc.

It doesn't say how old the children are. I always wonder about the range of effects this type of action has on young people in the medium o long term. Does it make them strive to improve their communities and/or does it make them hate the 'unfairness' of their usual living conditions?

I knew little about orphanages in the PRC but I understand schools are very tough. Canada must seem a little like heaven and I'm sure many local people are doing their utermost to ensure the kids enjoy themselves. Is any follow-up action planned to ensure that the kids cope with going back? it might not provide the same pleasure kick but I'm sure it's just as important.